If you're new here, this blog will give you the tools to become financially independent in 5 years. The wiki page gives a good summary of the principles of the strategy. The key to success is to run your personal finances much like a business, thinking about assets and inventory and focusing on efficiency and value for money. Not just any business but a business that's flexible, agile, and adaptable. Conversely most consumers run their personal finances like an inflexible money-losing anti-business always in danger on losing their jobs to the next wave of downsizing.
Here's more than a hundred online journals from people, who are following the ERE strategy tailored to their particular situation (age, children, location, education, goals, ...). Increasing their savings from the usual 5-15% of their income to tens of thousands of dollars each year or typically 40-80% of their income, many accumulate six-figure net-worths within a few years.
Since everybody's situation is different (age, education, location, children, goals, ...) I suggest only spending a brief moment on this blog, which can be thought of as my personal journal, before delving into the forum journals and looking for the crowd's wisdom for your particular situation.

Whereas football is a game where a bunch of girls wear protective padding and slap each others’ butts, cycling is a sport for real men who shave their legs and wear spandex. All this is besides the point though. The point is that sport is an excellent source of financial analogies, so let’s roll.

Cycling is a sport of turning energy into speed. Going into debt is like going downhill and picking up speed without have to pedal much. Many people prefer going down hill. The going is easy for a while and it takes no time to get to the bottom. Then the road flattens out and an equally steep hill appears ahead. Going up is much slower and much harder.

Interest income is like having a breeze in the back. Financial independence is having a wind strong enough to free wheel. Conversely, financing charges and debt is like having a wind in the face. Having the wind in the face and going uphill is even worse.

Like a big home, driving a cruiser is comfortable in the beginning but after 10 miles it becomes a drag. The wide saddle starts chafing. This is not the case for the racer. A racing saddle looks uncomfortable as it doesn’t offer much support but that’s because it doesn’t need to. A slow poking cyclist probably supports 70-80% of the weight on the saddle. The rest goes on the handle bars and pedals. A racer puts maybe 20% of his weight on the saddle and the rest on the pedals. The racer has places to go and thus does not need to spend a lot of resources on comfort.
Driving a 19 pound racer is easy. Driving a 35 pound cruiser is hard. Driving a 35 pound cruiser with a trailer full of stuff is really hard. Now try a headwind going uphill on a 35 pound cruiser with a trailer while being overweight and underpowered. Sounds like a train wreck in action. The financial equivalent is not hard to imagine. Soon the frustrated cyclist is going to start looking for quick fixes rather than taking a hard look at the six things that are currently being done wrong.

Like the analogy. I too cycle and will be doing that today inside the gym of course as with snow it is a little hard not to crash and slide. For me, cycling helped me loose about 1/3 of my body weight over time, improved my health, lowered my lipids and improved my mind and body. It really has changed my life as I found a new self reliance and confidence.

Love it! Couple questions and comments.
1. Jacob, have you ever done the STP (Seattle to Portland) run? I used to live on the route. 2. Hope there are no football players reading who might want to prove you wrong.
3. What kind of portable bike stand would you recommend if a very slow person wanted to ride their bike stationary in the garage for the winter? (Guess that would be the savings account with no interest)

Q said,

The analogies are hilarious.

You should have ERE quotes of the day

Nina said,

Wow!

I HATE cycling, I’m more of a “walking girl” but what a great analogy …
We really have to start loosing stuff.

jc said,

nothing quite like a bicycle tour to impress the value of traveling light.

@youngandthrifty – Well, if you’re on asphalt, it would be a subculture that it’s hard to fit into mainstream life. Good for short trips. Hard to ride fast, but goes everywhere.

Fredo said,

Or you could go with an velomobile – a recumbent bike with a aerodynamic hardshell. Then you have comfort while having only a fraction of the aerodynamic drag. And if you are lazy, you can add an electric assist to help going up the hills.

When i start racing on a stationary bike at the gym, then i start to realize how much of an idiot i am and look both physically and financially. It’s a double shackle, financially and physically fixed to the ground. Pointless!

Ha…I read this post ten minutes after getting home from my first human-powered trip on my new sub-$200 cruiser. It was slow and simple and so much better than not being on a bike at all! Maybe someday I’ll “graduate” to a road bike, but I have two fused vertebrae in my neck that make my hands go numb if I have to lean forward, so I’m going to stick with upright for now!

CT said,

When we learn how to ride a bike we get training wheels–what is the financial equivalent? How about the helmet.

Tom Young said,

The right tire pressure could be analogous to a
safe financial position.

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